AHA

>> Sunday, January 02, 2011

Yesterday I brewed Jamil's Dry Stout recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. The picture above has nothing to do with the dry stout recipe...but it is what you might find if you google for a picture of dry stout...in this case something to keep a stout sportsman dry.

For this brew I used Simpsons Golden Promise, Briess Flaked Barley, and Briess Roasted Barley (300 SRM). I was planning on using a different variety of Roasted Barley (500 SRM) but the LHBS was all out. Per Jamil's instructions, the Roasted Barley was ground very fine, almost to a powder. Hops are East Kent Goldings and yeast is White Labs WLP004 with a 24 hour starter on the yeast stir plate.

Brewing notes: I was high on my starting gravity (1.048). I got a new false bottom for Christmas and my evaporation rate seemed a bit higher than normal, so I think both of these contributed to the higher gravity. I added about three quarts of sterilized water to the fermenter to bring the volume up a bit. This was the first brew session in the garage. It was still cold but much warmer than being outside, especially when it came time to clean up.

Update 1/16/2011: I kegged this one today. My CO2 tank also ran out and I noticed it was time for a hydro-test, so it will be about a week before my tank is refilled and ready to go. I prime most of my kegged beer anyway so I'm probably two weeks out before it's ready to drink.

Tasting notes: This one is very good as well. Since I had to use the lighter roasted barely, it was definitely not quite as dark as I would have liked but the flavors are great. This is a keeper for sure, B+/A-